The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Saliem Fakir -
Civil society organisations continue to make a difference against the malpractices of big corporations.
Dedicated non-profit and community organisations work against time and the public’s lack of awareness to tackle corporations that spend an inordinate amount of money on public relations. It’s a constant war of public imagery with big corporations spending a lot to look good and clean.
Given their vast capacity, those corporations who covet deliberate malevolence against public...
Richard Pithouse -
The FIFA headquarters are nestled into a secluded spot on the hill overlooking Zurich, one of the richest cities in the world. Here a glass of coke will cost you R60 at a restaurant. The city, set around a lake with snow capped mountains in the background, is picture perfect in a chocolate boxy kind of way. But it’s not just a twee live-in European theme park pretending to be a city. Zurich is also home to squats, innovative housing and artists’ collectives, large immigrant...
Glenn Ashton -
While World Cup public transport to and from our stadiums left many visitors nonplussed at our rather muddled effort towards providing mass transportation, it was South Africa’s first real attempt at providing a modern, mass transit system. We must build on this slightly shaky start toward modernising our public transport.
Under the apartheid regime mass transit was primarily geared toward black people in dormitory townships, while whites were provided with world-class roads to get...
Saliem Fakir -
World Cup soccer fever has swept across the country creating much euphoria and mesmerisation about South Africa’s ability to host the event and be part of the big league, as we have always strived to be.
The country seems to be caught in some sort of ecstatic purgatory.
Newspaper pages are filled with reports about what is happening on and off the soccer field. Gossip abounds, analysis of team performance is endless and national politics have taken a backseat for now -- to be replaced...
Liepollo Pheko -
Reflecting on June 16th in the midst of the flag waving, lung busting, slightly mind-numbing festival that is the world Cup has become almost incidental. In years to come one wonders whether June 16th will be remembered more as the day that South Africa’s self respect on the soccer pitch was severely dented or as the day which commemorates our young martyrs in the struggle for freedom.
In fact, the state of our attention span is indicative of how we have reconstructed our collective...
Dale T. McKinley -
It is no secret that most mainstream movies dealing with real history take great liberties when it comes to telling their chosen ‘story‘. After all, such movies are made to entertain and make money. That means a simplified, easily digestible and sexed-up historical ‘story’. The ‘End Game’ is no exception.
Publicly billed as a ‘political drama and thriller’ that chronicles South Africa’s ‘journey to reconciliation …...
